1. Rhode Island was the last state to officially recognize Leap Day as a legal holiday in 2012. Before then, state employees would work on February 29 as an ordinary day.

2. In 1916, Rhode Island held its first Leap Year Ball, organized by a group of unmarried women who invited eligible bachelors to dance and socialize. The tradition continued for several decades, with the last Leap Year Ball taking place in 1968.

3. On February 29, 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Providence, Rhode Island, to dedicate a new federal building. The building was named in honor of Rhode Island's first female senator, Marguerite Smith, who had died the previous year.

4. In 1952, a Rhode Island man named Ralph Moretti was born on Leap Day. He would later become known as the "Leap Year Baby" and was even featured on the cover of Life magazine in 1960. Moretti passed away in 2008 at age 56.

5. In 2016, the Rhode Island Blood Center held a special blood drive on Leap Day, encouraging donors to give blood "once every four years." The center also offered free T-shirts to donors born on February 29.